tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post4895540164329265138..comments2015-03-02T23:21:17.115-05:00Comments on News and Views by Chris Barat: Book Review: PAUL AMONG THE PEOPLE: THE APOSTLE REINTERPRETED AND REIMAGINED IN HIS OWN TIME by Sarah Ruden (Pantheon Books, 2010)Chris Barathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845538037091279990noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post-3466365390041920032010-04-26T00:51:27.478-04:002010-04-26T00:51:27.478-04:00Fair enough. Sounds like an interesting take on a...Fair enough. Sounds like an interesting take on a problematic figure.GeoXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14658452994152399308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post-55902064339731922232010-04-25T19:40:15.669-04:002010-04-25T19:40:15.669-04:00GeoX,
Actually, Ruden DID present &quot;both side...GeoX,<br /><br />Actually, Ruden DID present &quot;both sides of the story,&quot; as it were, when discussing the homosexuality issue. She claimed that BOTH the Westboro Baptist types and the folks who claim that Paul wasn&#39;t REALLY attacking gays (one of whom she quotes at length) got Paul&#39;s view of the situation wrong. He was more interested in justice for victims of predatory sexual activity than anything else. I wish now that I had made that clearer, as I tried to when I discussed the issue of slavery as it related to the letter of Philemon.<br /><br />What I liked about Ruden&#39;s book is that she did not try to turn Paul into something he wasn&#39;t -- either an irrelevant, bigoted killjoy for the &quot;presentist Left&quot; or a dauntless defender (or even FOUNDER) of &quot;traditional morality&quot; for the &quot;fundamentalist Right.&quot; She tried to recover who he WAS through the medium of comparison with contemporary writers. If you are a committed Christian, as I am, then it matters very much what Paul believed, and it is a great service to have his work placed in such perspective. <br /><br />ChrisChris Barathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845538037091279990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post-24281197507042886222010-04-21T21:07:33.771-04:002010-04-21T21:07:33.771-04:00WHOA WHOA WHOA--as a committed leftist, let me jus...WHOA WHOA WHOA--as a committed leftist, let me just take this opportunity to clarify that I don&#39;t care in the slightest what St. Paul may or may not have believed. I only care that certain self-professed Christians today use him to justify their own homophobia. Pretty sure most of my cohort feels the same way. I quite agree that ancient definitions of sexuality have no meaningful relation to modern ones, but I think it&#39;s a bit much to posit that it&#39;s the LEFT that is most in need of this lesson.GeoXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14658452994152399308noreply@blogger.com